Grassroots

Southern California just lacked drift events on a Thursday night so Formula Drift has answered that major problem with a 2015 grassroots Irwindale schedule. These events are focused more to local drivers but are open to the public if you happen to be near Irwindale Speedway. Most events do see the attendance of a few Formula Drift Pro and Pro 2 drivers as well. The April 2nd event is probably a great place to spot 2015 builds and liveries being tested just one week before Round 1 at Streets of Long Beach. Season kicks off in just nine days with its first event set to be March 12th. Drifting happens between 5:00pm – 9:00pm for each one of these scheduled dates below. Spectators pay $10.00 to enter and drifting costs just $75.00 for the whole evening.

2015 Schedule:
March 12th
April 2nd
May 14th
June 11th
July 19th
August 13th
September 10th
October 1st
November 12th
December 10th

Three Palms Drift finished Rounds Three and Four with two days of intense competition as a double-header on February 21st and 22nd. The weekend enclosed some of the best runs from every driver in the series. Upsets were made, and the points have never been closer for the championship. The amount of devotion each driver put in on both days really showed through as the days went on. Track staff was updated with the addition of Mikey from JimmyUp and Rich DeBerardinis from Slide United Motorsports. As for every 3PDrift event, Steven Purcell was on the microphone informing the crowd of all the action.

The biggest upset of the weekend had to come from Fello Ambivero in the Carlitos Tire E36, who had blown his head gasket coming into the Final Four at Round One. Ambivero had been running his strongest all season, and came into competition sitting pretty with a Number 1 Qualifying Score of 96! Ambivero ended up finishing strong in 4th Place in Round Three and the car sounded like a lawnmower by the end of the day. He was able to source a new head gasket for the E36 and his team was able to get the car back together with no sleep.

In the pink Garrett Turbo S14, Florida’s own Kelsey “Drift Chick” Rowlings came hungry for some points in the season. In Round Three, she scored one point lower than Ambivero with a 95. She drove her car harder than ever before, with more power and angle. On her last few runs of the day, we all were able to hear that her clutch was slipping and she was fighting her car more than usual. By the end of the event, her clutch was toast and that meant another night of no sleep for her team, but that wasn’t before she was able to clench a Third Place victory. She and her crew installed the new ACT Clutch on their backs all at night at the track. Luckily, they finished the car right before Pizza Hut closed.

Over the weekend, we noticed a new fan page had been setup for Club Loose Ireland. After some digging around, it looks like this is a confirmed situation. 2009 Formula D Rookie-of-the-year Eric O’Sullivan has recently returned back to his native country (rumored with a Solstice in tow), and will be extending the grassroots organization to a new continent. Club Loose is one of the most famed grassroots organizations in the drifting community, and boasts alumni like Steve Angerman, Mats Baribeau, and Geoff Stoneback, all of which have clearly left their impact on competitive drifting events. O’Sullivan cited a lack of events in Ireland where drivers can get seat time and drive with their friends without the pressures of a competition, and hopes to offer the same sort of fun environment that Club Loose is known for.

The first event has tentatively been scheduled for May, with more details coming as they get confirmed.

For those unfamiliar with Club Loose, here’s a video profile of the group that was done by the people over at AutoBlog:

Coming into the second round of Three Palms Drift, the driver list showed some familiar names returning as well as some new drivers gunning for their Pro-2 licenses. This round showed many driver’s weak and strong points, resulting in more than one upset. Round 2 was held under the lights for its Top 16 competition which threw a lot of the top contenders off. Judges consisted of Pat Goodin, Gregg Bucell and guest judge, Geoff Stoneback. Needless to say, it was one hell of a fun event.

The biggest upset of the event had to be the number one qualifier, Kelsey Rowlings, being knocked out in the Top 8 after her Top 16 by-run. It was a tough break for Rowlings and her team because her run started off to be one of the best of the night. On the first outside zone, Rowlings wall tapped a little too hard, forcing in her to straighten out and later spin, coming off the bank. She did an amazing job recovering and kept the car off the wall, resulting in no further damage.

February has been a good month so far – the Patriots won the Superbowl (shocking, I know), the Groundhog saw his shadow (YAY just what I wanted, six more weeks of winter), and Drift Buffet made a comeback. Yep, you heard me – DRIFT BUFFET is back.

In a nutshell, Drift Buffet was and is a big deal for the drivers here on the West Coast. The East Coast has a premiere grassroots drifting scene, especially with a series like Club Loose that breeds world-class drivers, while maintaining the passion and sense of grassroots drifting. On the West Coast, however, there haven’t been many long lasting grassroots series.

The first Drift Buffet event of this decade happened on February 1 at Grange Motor Circuit and it was full of “all you can drift” epic, non-stop drift action. This last event featured dozens of drivers, with a few Formula Drift (FD) competitors in attendance.

FD driver Eric Hill summarizes the event perfectly,

“Drift Buffet’s event at Grange [Motor Circuit] was an extremely fun event. I was skeptical at first since go kart tracks are usually small and slow. Don’t let the size fool you though, 80 mph entries and tons of really tight and technical turns allowed friends to enjoy some tight tandems. Plus with the small amount of drivers, seat time was definitely not an issue. The only thing I should have done differently was to bring more tires.”

Words: Rathyna Gomer
Over the last year, I have been taking my car building much more seriously. I made one promise to myself – no more half-assing anything on my competition car (my LS3 powered 350z). After getting the bulk of the swap completed, I began making a checklist of all the other parts I needed to make this car perfect. Unfortunately, I don’t have much flexibility with my seat (I have to push my seat all the way forward since I’m so short), it all comes down to the size, depth, and position of my steering wheel. Crazy, I know – but the struggle is seriously that real. So when I hit the market for a steering wheel, it was no small task. After much research and many side-by-side comparisons, I was extremely comfortable in choosing a Driven Steering wheel.

While Drifting – Obviously, steering and maneuverability are critical in any motorsport. However, with drifting, steering wheels are spinning like crazy. Being able to catch the wheel during a transition or during a fast manji, is extremely critical. I’ve had experiences with an OEM steering wheel where I wasn’t able to catch the wheel, which could really end up disastrous. Pro Tip > > Watch this video:

Shortly after Formula Drift came to a nail biting end, Three Palms Drift announced that they would be running an off-season Formula Drift Pro-Am series, awarding three FD Pro-2 licenses and $15,000 in season prize money. Needless to say, drivers all around the South and as far as Texas put their competition cars back under the knife to compete. The benefit of Florida weather allows this off-season drift series to take place in Punta Gorda, at Three Palms Speedway.

A few familiar faces running the program are included but not limited to: Pat Goodin, Jeremy Lowe, Brian Eggert, and Gregg Bucell.

Along with some popular staff members, the drivers list included the likes of Kelsey Rowlings, Fello Ambivero, and Mad Mike Masse. These drivers came with their guns fully loaded. The talk of drivers gunning for the $10,000 first place prize money seemed to be the topic of choice in the pits.

After qualifying came to an end, it was obvious that the event was going to be a close one. With a lower driver count, most likely due to the series being very recently announced, off season while cars were beginning their Winter refreshes, and close to the holidays, there would be only one Top 16 race to fight for a spot in Top 8. After the hard decisions the judges needed to make, the qualifying results came as follows:

The Street Driven Tour is set to unleash a festival of fun and automotive madness next year. The concept is to brings tons of entertainment, fun, and automotive madness all under one roof for a big event/party. Drifting will of course be a centerpiece of the events with all day drifting bash-style and a main event with Drifting Mini Games and cash prizes.

Some drivers such as Chris Forsberg and Brandon Wicknick have already posted up the schedule and shared excitement for it. As we get into 2015 the Street Driven Tour events will release more details and information on what is happening at each event weekend! Keep an eye out for more details as the Tour gets closer, full schedule:

The 2015 Just Drift schedule has arrived just before the holiday season! The schedule packs events every single month of the year to keep Southern California Pro Am and drift fans/drivers entertained. All the events take place at Willow Springs but offers a variety of courses to finish off the year. Below is a complete schedule:

The newest Pro Am sanctioning body and series found in Southeastern Florida is set to start next weekend in-between the big holidays. The pro class payout is set at $10,000 for first and works its way down to $1,000 for fourth. This Pro Am series will be issuing licenses for Pro 2 after the March 21st round closing out this winter drift season so check it out if you are a driver looking to step up into Pro 2 in the southeast. All events take place at Three Palms Raceway.